“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west,so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” — Psalm 103:10-12
Our reflections last week focused on the brevity of life and the certainty of death. Without God, that is a formula for despair. And without a God of grace, it would be a formula for terror. Death is the by-product of sin; “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men…[and]…by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation [Rom. 5:12, 18].”
Relief and remedy are found in that this God is not first a God of wrath, but of mercy and grace. Had His justice prevailed above His mercy, the human race would have perished in the Garden of Eden and no man would have found his way into the “glory that shall be hereafter.” “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.”
In our fallen condition we are incapable of grasping the implications of holiness or the magnitude of any transgression against it. Only by revelation can we get a glimpse of the dimensions of this conflict. When through the word of God the window of Truth is opened, then may come conviction of sin that will give rise to the cry, “Woe is me, for I am undone!” Then, and only then, will the significance of this nugget begin to break upon us. It is a great and awesome wonder that “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities,” and should give rise to an astonished “Why?!”
The answer lies in the key word of the next verse, “mercy.” And here we are introduced to the dimsensions of God’s mercy. It is higher than heaven is above the earth. On this phrase Spurgeon remarks, “The idea is a very noble one, for who shall tell how great is the height of heaven? Who can reach the first of the fixed stars, and who can measure the utmost bounds of the starry universe? Yet so great is His mercy.” And his observation was made long before rockets had reached the moon. We know now better than he did then that the heavens are immeasureable, and so is God’s mercy. Added to this is the declaration in v.17, “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting…” God’s mercy is eternal.
It is out of that measureless, timeless mercy that God devised a way to remove our transgressions and our sins from us “as far as the east is from the west.” It is been observed long before that this represents an infinite distance. This gives rise to another question, not answered in the Psalm nor fully in the Old Testament: How? The answer lies in the crosswork of Christ where God “made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him [II Cor. 5:21].”
The infinite Son of our infinite God paid an infinite price for our redemption from sin and its awful consequences, so that God in infinite mercy might separate us from our sins by an infinite distance, qualifying us by grace alone to share in His infinite glory.
However, there is a qualifying phrase in the text and context; His mercy is “toward them that fear Him” (cf. v.11,13,17.) God’s mercy does not afford blanket coverage of the human race. It is universal in its potential, but individual and particular in its application. “The fear of the Lord,” a recognition of and reverence for the God of the Bible, is the prerequisite for enjoying the “wonders of His grace.” “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him [Heb. 11:6b].”
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endureth forever [Ps. 111:10].”
And when we come to revere His name, then it is our assurance that “nothing shall separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and our hearts will echo the Psalmist, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name [Ps. 103:1].”
GLORY to HIS name,
“Pastor” Frasier
Our reflections last week focused on the brevity of life and the certainty of death. Without God, that is a formula for despair. And without a God of grace, it would be a formula for terror. Death is the by-product of sin; “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men…[and]…by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation [Rom. 5:12, 18].”
Relief and remedy are found in that this God is not first a God of wrath, but of mercy and grace. Had His justice prevailed above His mercy, the human race would have perished in the Garden of Eden and no man would have found his way into the “glory that shall be hereafter.” “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.”
In our fallen condition we are incapable of grasping the implications of holiness or the magnitude of any transgression against it. Only by revelation can we get a glimpse of the dimensions of this conflict. When through the word of God the window of Truth is opened, then may come conviction of sin that will give rise to the cry, “Woe is me, for I am undone!” Then, and only then, will the significance of this nugget begin to break upon us. It is a great and awesome wonder that “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities,” and should give rise to an astonished “Why?!”
The answer lies in the key word of the next verse, “mercy.” And here we are introduced to the dimsensions of God’s mercy. It is higher than heaven is above the earth. On this phrase Spurgeon remarks, “The idea is a very noble one, for who shall tell how great is the height of heaven? Who can reach the first of the fixed stars, and who can measure the utmost bounds of the starry universe? Yet so great is His mercy.” And his observation was made long before rockets had reached the moon. We know now better than he did then that the heavens are immeasureable, and so is God’s mercy. Added to this is the declaration in v.17, “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting…” God’s mercy is eternal.
It is out of that measureless, timeless mercy that God devised a way to remove our transgressions and our sins from us “as far as the east is from the west.” It is been observed long before that this represents an infinite distance. This gives rise to another question, not answered in the Psalm nor fully in the Old Testament: How? The answer lies in the crosswork of Christ where God “made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him [II Cor. 5:21].”
The infinite Son of our infinite God paid an infinite price for our redemption from sin and its awful consequences, so that God in infinite mercy might separate us from our sins by an infinite distance, qualifying us by grace alone to share in His infinite glory.
However, there is a qualifying phrase in the text and context; His mercy is “toward them that fear Him” (cf. v.11,13,17.) God’s mercy does not afford blanket coverage of the human race. It is universal in its potential, but individual and particular in its application. “The fear of the Lord,” a recognition of and reverence for the God of the Bible, is the prerequisite for enjoying the “wonders of His grace.” “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him [Heb. 11:6b].”
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endureth forever [Ps. 111:10].”
And when we come to revere His name, then it is our assurance that “nothing shall separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and our hearts will echo the Psalmist, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name [Ps. 103:1].”
GLORY to HIS name,
“Pastor” Frasier
No comments:
Post a Comment